An elderhostel on Cape Ann gave me the opportunity to see Boston's North Shore for the first time,
to make new friends on the Elderhostel, and to reconnect with old friends in Boston. How could I resist?

Michael Filisky from Harvard, his wife Ingrid and their daughter Marina, were gracious escorts up to Cape Ann from Cambridge. They know the area and where the best clams in Essex were to be found (at Woodman's).

Ingrid, Michael and Marina Filisky at the Shipbuilding Museum in Essex

Michael was my student many years ago. This would be our last visit, as he died suddenly in March 2006.

I taught Michael back in 1962 at Schlarman High in Danville.

The Gloucester Waterfront

The Gloucester Lighthouse

Hawthorne in Salem

Our elderhostel group stayed at the Cape Ann Marina Resort on the Annisquam River. It was a quiet lovely place, surrounded by marshlands, with great harbor and river views, whale watching trips, near a good restaurant, and offered easy walking into Gloucester.

Annisquam River at daybreak from our resort.

Cape Ann Marine Resort

The Yin Yu Tang house at the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem.

Motif #1 in Rockport Harbor

The Navigator is always at the wheel in Gloucester.

Hiking on Crane Beach

Bob Speare the Master Naturalist

The School Bus that took us everywhere

The Schooner Adventure is being restored at Rose Marine in Gloucester

Sealing the seams between the planks on the Adventure

Home-made Lobster buoys in Rockport

Our daily excursions on the yellow schoolbus took us to Salem, Marblehead, Rockport, Ipswich, Newberryport, Essex, leaving us free time to explore Gloucester.

The Friendship of Salem

How varied are your works, LORD!

Old House Tour in Ipswich

In wisdom you have wrought them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Look at the sea, great and wide! It teems with countless beings, living things both large and small.
Here ships ply their course; here Leviathan, your creature, plays. Psalm 104: 24-26.

Whale watching in September is perfect. The whales are feeding continuously before migrating to the Caribbean for the winter.

Marsh lands where egrets and herons fish--right next to Cape Ann Marine Resort.

Lobster dinner at the Greenery in Rockport

Hiking in Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary

This boat reminded me of The Perfect Storm, filmed in Gloucester.

Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary

Highlights of the week were many--hiking the natural places like the Parker Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island and Crane Beach. I also got involved watching the restoration of the Gloucester Dory Trawler Adventure going on at Rose Marine. There were many boats for me to check out, including the Friendship of Salem.

Newberryport, looking across the Merrimac River toward Carlisle

Fish tank beauties

Beach at State Park on Plum Island

Gloucester Victorian Lady

Looking for Moby Dick--

Ravenwood Park hike

Starfish

Bob Speare with our group on beach at Plum Island

After the elderhostel, I had the afternoon free and so visited the Cape Ann Historical Museum where I saw many paintings by local artist Fitz Hugh Lane, as well as the North Atlantic Fisheries exhibit. Then I walked on to visit the Portuguese church shown here.

The Portuguese Church Our Lady of Good Voyages

Continue with me after the elderhostel up to Maine, where I spent a few days with my nephew Mike Shaughnessy and his family. They're getting to be a musical family--2 guitars, a mandolin and a bongo drum.